Chinese Children Dizzied by ‘Toxic Tracks’

A sports track at a primary school in Beijing, China, 09 June 2016. Beijing's government announced the inspection of all running tracks in schools following reports of students falling sick.
Photo:
European Pressphoto Agency

From awkward-fitting uniforms to being picked last for teams, students around the world have gripes about gym class. But in China, such complaints have taken on a very particular nature, with some saying that school running tracks give them headaches and bloody noses.

Reports of so-called “toxic tracks” have simmered for months, spanning cities from Sichuan to coastal Zhejiang province. They took on a fresh urgency earlier this spring, when students in China’s capital city also complained that school tracks were prompting dizziness and vomiting.

According to an undercover investigation aired Tuesday night by China’s state broadcaster CCTV, school running tracks are commonly made from toxic waste including discarded tires and electric cables, allowing for cheaper production. The broadcaster, which aired its investigation using footage with blurred faces of interviewees and did not specify company names, said that production is largely centered in Baoding, Hebei, not far from Beijing.

Such construction materials, the broadcaster said, typically didn’t have production dates, relevant regulatory certificates or even company names or addresses listed.

The broadcaster’s report, widely carried by Chinese media, prompted outrage. “If even Beijing is like this, let’s not even speak of what it must be in other places,” wrote one user on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform.

Following complaints, official air quality tests at the Baiyunlu campus of the Beijing No. 2 Experimental School showed earlier this month that results were up to national standards for various pollutants, including formaldehyde and benzene.

“Although the results for the sports ground were up to standard, there was still a strange odor persisting. For student safety, we will still embark on a complete overhaul until any hidden dangers have been eliminated,” said the Beijing Xicheng education commission, which oversees the school.

Schools across the country have either removed the offending tracks or suspended their use. Construction of all school tracks in Beijing has been suspended while new standards are being formulated, according to state media.

China’s schools have been in the spotlight this year over various health concerns, most notably in April, after parents in the wealthy province of Jiangsu said that hundreds of students had fallen ill in separate incidents at schools built near sites contaminated by chemical plants. In some parts of the country, students have been known to attend school wearing face masks to ward against fumes from factories.